Ethix Studios zeroes in on Web design, branding

Springfield-based Ethix Studios is moving toward a six-figure year in revenues, and founder Landon Lewis is laying the groundwork for growth.

Lewis launched his Web design and development company in 2005, and incorporated under the Ethix Studios name roughly two years ago.

Ethix Studios originally outsourced most of its branding and design work, with Lewis serving as the development point man to bring designs to life in interactive media and figure out how to get those designs in front of the right audiences.

"The way a Web site's developed also determines how well it's going to be received by search engines for placement," Lewis said. "Something we look very heavily at is ensuring that a site is friendly to those search engines."

In July, he added Jarad Johnson as creative director to spearhead design work in-house. Ethix Studios had previously tapped into Johnson's creativity as a third-party provider; Johnson worked at design studio Departika before joining forces with Lewis.

"I'll work with the client, if we're starting an identity from scratch, to develop the more traditional (elements) - business cards, logos, that type of thing, and then, we move into the Web," Johnson said. "We put more of a focus on the Web and making sure that branding translates (online) and works effectively."

Lewis said that beyond finding the right audiences, making a brand effective online also entails reaching those potential customers via banner ads and strategically placed Web links.

The duo's expertise is appealing to other design studios. Johnson said roughly 80 percent of Ethix Studios' work comes from other Web developers.

"Larger companies will land a very large client, and there will be all kinds of things (involved). Branding, advertising, magazine ads and even television commercials (and) they'll give us the interactive side - the Web site - and we'll develop the branding that they've already started online," Johnson said.

Much of that work, however, is behind-the-scenes, as most companies don't tout the fact that they're outsourcing some of their work.

Direct relationships

Ethix Studios does, however, work directly with its own clients. One current job is a side project for Matt Miller, an owner with Trevor Crist and Paul Sundy in Fedora Social House, 300 Park Central East.

Miller and Crist discovered a common interest in the moose-shaped mugs inspired by eggnog cups used in the film "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation."

"Unbeknownst to one another, we had both researched online (to see) where we can find those things," Miller said. "We would have liked to have bought them for family members and (for) Christmas gifts."

After conducting research and finding out that there are other people who would be interested in buying the mugs, and learning that no one else is fully tapping into that market potential, Miller and Crist decided to take the leap, enlisting Ethix Studios for what Miller calls the Holiday Moose Mug Project.

Miller found a manufacturer abroad and is awaiting the first shipment of moose-shaped glass mugs, which will be sold primarily online.

Johnson designed branding concepts, packaging and the Web site www.holidaymoosemugs.com, which was expected to launch by the end of September.

Sets of four mugs will sell for $39.99 via the Web site, and eventually, Miller said, the plan is to get them onto local retailers' shelves.

"This is a product that's fairly consistent in its offering, but we don't feel like anybody has taken hold of it and given it an appropriate marketing image, and really had any fun with it, because it's a really fun project," Miller said. "This is a designer's dream, because there really are no boundaries, and we've been really happy with what they've come back with."

He noted that if sales go well in this first year, the intention is to redesign packaging and promotional materials every year.

Johnson said the moose mug project is a good illustration of how Ethix Studios' Web expertise comes in handy.

"If we did business cards and letterhead, it wouldn't matter for that product," he said. "This is a special project where the offline (components don't) really matter at all, though it will later when they do trade shows."

Going for growth

Lewis said Ethix Studios doesn't use a price sheet with set prices for specific types of jobs. "We like to find out what they need, what they've done in the past, where they want to go," he said. "We develop a plan for them, and there's going to be a price tag (of) what we're going to charge. That way, they don't have to worry about getting a surprise bill from us." Last year, Ethix Studios brought in revenues of about $70,000, Lewis said, and with Johnson on board, he's expecting to hit at least $100,000 in 2008.

And Johnson will grow professionally, too. He's slated to become a partner in Ethix Studios on Jan. 1.

"Right now, Jarad is an employee of Ethix Studios, with a lot of say," Lewis said. "That was the carrot to get him to leave his day job."

One of the decisions Lewis and Johnson are grappling with is finding new office space. When he worked alone, Lewis used a home office. Now, it's time for Ethix Studios to have a place of its own.

Lewis said an offer had been made to lease a downtown spot, but no agreement had been reached at press time.

Once they get moved into new space, the plan is to launch a second brand, tentatively called East & Walnut, to serve the marketing and branding needs of higher-end national clients.

"Ethix Studios is very locally focused. We work with a lot of other local developers, and we want to keep it that way," Lewis said. "It's really hard to have a locally focused brand and a nationally focused brand (together), so we felt the best strategy was to develop a second brand (for national companies)."

The commercial space also will enable the company to hire a developer so that Lewis can step out of that role and focus more on running Ethix Studios and handling client marketing. And they may add other employees as needed.

"We don't want to grow too fast. We don't want clients to suffer from our overhead," Johnson said.

The goal, Lewis said, is to tweak Ethix Studios' portfolio so that it's 50 percent client work and 50 percent development of revenue-producing Web sites that the company owns.